Putty softener



Nov. 24, 1936. G. McKlTTRxcK 2,062,230

PUTTY SOFTENER Filed March 18, 1955 15.1%@ 2017.7 '341/5 lNvENToR WITNESSES f ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 24, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

This invention relates to tools and instruments in the class of electric heating, and its objects are as follows:

First, to provide an instrument for facilitating 51 the taking out of hard putty from glazed window sashes preparatory to reglazing, the principle of said instrument being to heat the putty and to conne the heat almost solely to the putty, for the purpose of softening it so that it can be dug out with a putty-knife or other suitable implement.

Second, to provide a putty softener which, in its main aspects, comprises a bar-like base, the length of which is spanned by a heating unit which is anchored at its ends to the Virtual eX- tremities of said base, there being an adjusting device which makes only a desired amount of the heating unit available for softening the putty when laid thereagainst, said unit being intended to be electrically heated for which purpose there is an arrangement on the base at which to make an attachment with an electrical outlet.

Third, to enable the adjustment of the heating unit while hot to various lengths of putty strips, this being possible because when the turnable arm of the adjusting device is moved so that its porcelain bushing stands parallel to the base, said bushing is free to be slipped back and forth over the heating unit when the carriage of the adjusting device is moved to the new position.

In the drawing:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating one mode of using the putty softener.

Figure 2 is a plan View of the putty softener showing the turnable arm of the adjusting device in its two positions.

Figure 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3`3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a cross section taken on the line 4 4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a cross section taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 2.

The putty softener comprises a bar-like base I which consists of a cross-sectionally rectanguvlar length of wood 2 (Fig. 3), which is slotted on opposite sides as at 3, and is grooved out at 4 to contain a wire 5 which extends between the virtual extremities of the base. A strip 6 of asbestos is attached to the length of wood 2 by countersunk screws l, the purpose of this strip being both to cover the groove and wire 4, 5 and to provide a heat-resistant surface for the wood.

This particular construction is carried out in the interest of cheapness and simplicity, but it is obvious that the entire base l could be made of insulating material, properly fabricated to contain the wire 5 and to guide the adjusting device which is presently explained, as well as to support the heating unit. But continuing with the structure as shown, the extremities of the 5 base are capped with fibre pieces 8, 9. The piece 8 is held in place by a screw eye l@ which serves the additional purpose of a hanger. The piece 9 is secured by a screw il, and this goes between the prongs l2 of an electrical connector. l0

Nuts i3, or equivalent means, secure the prongs to the fibre piece EN The prongs are thus permanently attached to the piece 9. One of them carries a brass or other conducting arm i4 which extends out beyond one side of the base (Figs. l l5 and 2). The other prong has one end of the wire 5 attached to it as at l5, the other end of this wire being secured to a binding post I8 near the opposite extremity oi the base.

The free end of the arm ii has a crotch ll 20 in which one end of the heating unit i3 is seated so that it will not slip off. This unit comprises a coil of resistance wire, and at the end mentioned enough of the coils are straightened out at I9 to enable carrying the wire under the head 25 of a screw 29 which serves to anchor said end to the unit. The opposite end of the unit is anchored at the binding post i6. The heating unit, therefore, spans the length of the base between the anchorages IG, lll and because of the fact 30 that the arm i4 juts out from the base whereas the binding post i6 is practically centered on the base the heating unit i8 takes a diagonal position and initially spans the distance on a bias as shown in full lines in Fig. 2. 35

An adjusting device by means of which various lengths of the heating unit are made directly available for putty-Seitening purposes is generally designated 2l. This consists of a carriage 22 which has portions 23 bent down and then in- 40 wardly toward each other so as to ride in the slots 3. The carriage is made, although not necessarily so, in two parts which are formed as shown in Figure 3, the superimposed anges 24 being sweated, spot-welded or otherwise secured 45 together to provide a ngerpiece.

An arm 25 is turna-bly mounted on a stud 26 which is xed on the carriage in an upstanding position. A nut 2l on the stud is screwed against a split washer 28 which is thus made to bear 50 against the arm and hold it under spring tension.

It is by this means that the arm is frictionally held in either of two operating positions (Fig. 2).

A loop 29 is formed by doubling the material of the arm. The superimposed parts are sweated, 55

spot-welded or otherwise secured together, and the end opposite to the loop has a handle 30 by which the arm is conveniently turned. The loop 29 i'ixedly holds a porcelain or other insulating bushing 3| which has a bore large enough to enable slipping the bushing back and forth along the heating unit I8 and without binding the heating unit when shifting the adjusting device along the base I to a new position. Ihe bore is sufliciently yoversized to take the biased position of the heating unit into account, it being intended to carry out necessary adjustments even when the unit is hot. At such a time the unit is most likely to be stretched, but the over-sized bore in the bushing prevents binding and stretching.

One end 32 of the bushing projects farther from the loop than its opposite end. The purpose of this is to insure a parallel relationship of the operative strand of the heating unit to the base I. When the turnable arm 25 is directed straight across the carriage according to the full lines in Figure 2 the adjusting device is free to be slid back and forth along the base I, the flexible heating unit I8 substantially maintaining its biased position and not departing from it to any noticeable degree until the carriage 22 is moved well up toward the screw eye I0. At such a time the operator can turn the arm 25 just a little in the counter-clockwise direction in order to keep the bushing 3| more nearly in line with the heating unit I8 so as not to bend or stretch it when either cold or hot.

The operation is readily understood. 'I'he manner in which the adjusting device is slid back and forth on the base I has already been pointed out in some detail. Assume that there is a strip of putty to be softened, substantially of a length between the points 33 and 34 in Figure 2. The adjusting device 2I is set at the required place on the base I, whereupon the arm 25 is turned counterclockwise so that it assumes the dotted line position (Fig. 2), in which position it remains because of the tension of the washer 28, until turned back. It is only then that the heating unit I8 is distorted out of its original bias position. The strand 35 is thus brought into parallelism with the base I and projected to the front, measuring ofi', so to speak, only so much of the strand as is needed to do the particular work. It is immaterial what happens to the other strand.

The operator takes hold of the base substantially as shown in Figure 1, and lays the strand 35, made available by its projection into parallelism with the base, against the putty. Previously to this an ordinary current connector 36 is attached to the prongs I2, the wire 3T of the connector extending to a suitable source of current. 'I'he strand 35 will be kept against the putty for a few moments until the putty becomes soft enough to dig out.

Because of the small diameter of the heating unit the heat from the hot wire is almost entirely confined to the putty strip. 'I'here is not enough escaping heat either to mar the sash or injure the glass, and if it is desired to remove the glass without cracking it, assuming that the sash contains a whole pane the softening of the putty enables accomplishing this is a very satisfactory and expeditious manner.

More often the object in removing the pane will be because it is broken, and then it is immaterial if the glass is cracked further. The chief advantage of the softener is that the putty can be removed from the sash without cutting, gashing and otherwise defacing the glass and aoeaeso putty rabbet in the sash. Another mode of use of the softener is on the bench in the shop. Old sashes can be glazed easily and quickly by first softening the hardened putty by means of the instant device, and then digging it out.

I claim:-

1. A putty softener comprising a bar-like base, a flexible heating unit, means by which the unit is anchored at its ends to the base so as to initially stand on a bias, and an adjusting device carried by the base, operable to move any desired length of the unit out of bias into parallelism to the base and thereby project said length into available working position.

2. A putty softener comprising a bar-like base, a flexible heating unit, an arm jutting out from one side of the base at one end and a binding post on the base at the other end, the end of the arm and the binding post having the heating unit anchored thereto in a biased spanning position with respect to the base, and an adjusting device which is movable along the base, said device including means by which to distort the heating unit from its biased position so that a strand length thereof is brought into parallelism to the base.

3. A putty softener comprising a bar-like base, a flexible heating unit spanning the length of the base, means by which the ends of the unit are anchored to the virtual extremities of the base, and an adjusting device carried by the base, said device comprising a carriage which is slidable on the base, an insulating bushing through which the heating unit extends, an arm carrying the bushing, and means by which the arm is turnably mounted on the carriage, the turning of the arm into position so that the bushing extends crosswise of the base causing a strand length of the unit to be in parallelism to the base.

4. A putty softener comprising a bar-like base. a exible heating unit anchored at its ends to the base in a diagonal position so as to stand on a bias lengthwise of the base, and means by which to distort a portion of said unit out of its biased position and away from the base so that only the wanted strand length thereof is made available for use.

5. A putty softener comprising a base, a heating unit extending from one end to the other of the base, an adjusting device movable along the base to attain an adjustment for the length of a strip of putty to be softened, a movable arm included in said device, and an insulating bushing on one end of the arm, the heating unit going through the bore of the bushing, and one end of the bushing extending farther from the arm than the other end so that when the arm is moved to dispose the bushing crosswise of the base its extended end will hold a strand length of the unit in parallelism to the base preparatory to application to the putty.

6. A putty softener comprising a bar-like base, which has longitudinal slots, a carriage slidable along the base and including portions which are bent to move in the slots for guidance, a heating unit, means for anchoring one end of the unit in the substantial center of the base near one extremity, and means to connect one side of a current source thereto, an arm jutting out from the opposite extremity of the base toward one side, said arm having a crotch to contain the opposite end of the unit and also means to secure said end, there being other means for connection with the other side of the current source, an arm and means by which it is frictionally pivoted on the carriage, one end of the arm having a loop, and

an insulating bushing held by the loop, the bore f of the bushing having the heating unit going therethrough.

7. A putty softener comprising a. base, a ilexible heating unit loosely carried on a bias by the base, an adjusting device carried by the base and including an insulating bushing through which the said unit goes, said device being readilyT slidable along the base because of the looseness of said unit and the substantial alinement of the bore of the bushing with the unit, and means also included in the adjusting device to shift the bushing crosswise of its direction of movement to straighten out a portion of the heating unit in parallelism to the base.

GEO. MCKITTRICK. 

